咸 Influence
Upper trigram: Lake (the lake) · Lower trigram: Mountain (the mountain)
Mutual attraction — influence through sincere feeling.
Modern interpretation
Influence flows through sincere feeling, not pressure. In relationships and persuasion alike, let attraction be mutual and unforced. Touch hearts before minds, and the response you want will come willingly.
The Judgment · 卦辞
亨。利贞。取女吉。
“Hsien indicates that, (on the fulfilment of the conditions implied in it), there will be free course and success. Its advantageousness will depend on the being firm and correct (as) in marrying a young lady. There will be good fortune.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
咸其拇。
“The first line, divided, shows one moving his great toes.”
咸其腓，凶。居吉。
“The second line, divided, shows one moving the calves of his leg. There will be evil. If he abide (quiet in his place), there will be good fortune.”
咸其股，执其随，往吝。
“The third line, undivided, shows one moving his thighs, and keeping close hold of those whom he follows. Going forward (in this way) will cause regret.”
贞吉。悔亡。憧憧往来，朋从尔思。
“The fourth line, undivided, shows that firm correctness which will lead to good fortune, and prevent all occasion for repentance. If its subject be unsettled in his movements, (only) his friends will follow his purpose.”
咸其脢，无悔。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows one moving the flesh along the spine above the heart. There will be no occasion for repentance.”
咸其辅颊舌。
“The sixth line, divided, shows one moving his jaws and tongue.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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